Trial set for former St. Patrick’s bookkeeper accused of stealing from parish

A woman suspected of swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from St. Patrick’s Parish in St. John’s will go to trial this fall.

Dianne Clare Coady wasn’t in provincial court Monday when her case was called. Instead, she was represented by her lawyer Amanda MacDougall.

MacDougall and Crown prosecutor Mike Murray agreed to have the trial begin Nov. 3. Murray told Judge Colin Flynn that the trial is expected to last two weeks.

Coady has pleaded not guilty to three charges — theft over $5,000, fraud over $5,000 and uttering forged documents.

The crimes were said to have been committed between June 2007 and July 2011, when Coady was the parish’s bookkeeper.

The 68-year-old, who is not in custody, was charged in February after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John’s had a forensic audit of parish finances completed. The audit was requested in August 2012 after the parish priest at St. Patrick’s suspected fraudulent activity.

The archdiocese received the results of that audit in January 2013 and then turned the matter over to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.